


Every Day for a Week

by merryofsoul



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, everyone mentioned at least once and various side pairings alluded to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-04 12:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17898179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryofsoul/pseuds/merryofsoul
Summary: Jihoon and Junhui meet and come to the same (wrong) assumption.





	Every Day for a Week

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to tullycat for the beta, and helicases for brainstorming with me! 💕
> 
> The title comes from the Hip Hop Unit’s version of Mansae 🤗

_Monday_

Jihoon wakes up to the sound of someone trying to break down the door. 

He stays on the couch for a moment, waiting for Minghao to wake up and come out of his room to answer it, but nothing happens. The knocking gets louder, and then it sounds like whoever it is presses their face close to the crack in the door to say something. Jihoon thinks he’s still dreaming for a second, but then realizes the reason he can’t understand what the guy is saying is because he’s not speaking Korean. 

He rolls off the couch and shuffles to the door, taking the blanket with him and tugging it around his shoulders. He’d slept with his hood up to block out any light coming in through Minghao’s living room windows and he doesn’t bother drawing it back. He steps down into the entryway and grabs the door handle, yanking it open with a scowl on his face. 

The guy continues to yell in Mandarin, way too loud for the early hour. At least, Jihoon thinks it’s early. All he knows is he hasn’t been asleep long enough to make up for yesterday’s almost twenty-four hours of travel, not to mention adjusting to the seventeen hour time difference. 

“What,” Jihoon says, not making any attempt to tamp down his annoyed tone, “the fuck?”

“Oh,” the guys says, blinking down at Jihoon. “Hello.”

Jihoon blinks up at him. It’s also too early for this guy to be this tall.

“Where’s Minghao?” the guy asks. “I didn’t know you were getting here so soon.” 

Jihoon frowns, wondering if he’s supposed to know who this is, but then it clicks. This must be the boyfriend that Minghao had talked about introducing him to.

“Minghao’s still asleep,” Jihoon says. He steps back to let the guy into the apartment, watching as he slides his shoes off and shoves his feet into a pair of slippers. They’re patterned with little carrots. 

“Well, he must’ve forgotten I was coming over,” the guy says. 

“That’s my fault,” Jihoon says. “My flight got in late and I was going to take a cab, but he wanted to pick me up.”

“He’s sweet,” the guys says. 

“Yeah,” Jihoon agrees. “When he wants to be.”

The guy snorts and shakes his hair out of his eyes. Jihoon doesn’t really understand the trend of people his age dyeing their hair gray, but he has to admit it looks nice.

“Um, I’m Jihoon,” he says, realizing he should probably start with that.

“Oh — I’m Junhui!” The guys responds brightly, holding out a hand. Jihoon has to let go of his blanket cape to return the gesture, and abruptly feels gross and uncomfortable.

“I’m gonna get Minghao,” Jihoon says, shuffling away from Junhui quickly. He enters Minghao’s room without knocking and goes over to the bed to poke him in the ribs. 

“Get up,” Jihoon says. “Junhui-ssi’s here.”

Minghao rolls over and groans into his pillow. He mumbles something that Jihoon doesn’t catch. He pokes Minghao again. 

“Also, I’m hungry but I don’t know where anything is in your kitchen,” Jihoon continues. “Do you really want me messing around in there?”

Jihoon knows for a fact that Minghao hates when people fuck around with his kitchen organization, and he’s hoping the threat is enough to make Minghao get up. Minghao groans again and flips back over. 

“Hyung. You’re kind of the worst.”

Jihoon smiles peacefully, waiting for Minghao to crack an eye open and look at him and see it. 

“I’ll get up,” Minghao says. “Don’t touch anything.”

Jihoon waits until Minghao is upright and leaving the room before following him. He heads for the bathroom instead of the kitchen, but still hears Junhui ask, “Why’d you change your door code, punk?”

“It died for good yesterday,” Minghao replies. “I had to get a new one.”

“I told you you should’ve replaced it weeks ago, the last time you had to do that trick with the battery. Remember?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Minghao replies. 

Jihoon laughs softly to himself at their banter. Minghao _is_ a punk, and he should definitely be with someone who will tell him that. 

_Tuesday_

”I know a guy,” Jeonghan says. “He has a truck and muscles.”

“Why does that sound ominous?” Jihoon asks. 

“It’s free,” Jeonghan says. 

“Let’s do it,” Jihoon replies. 

“You staying with Minghao?” Jeonghan asks after he gives Jihoon the phone number. 

“Yeah,” Jihoon says. “I can’t get into the new place until Saturday.”

“I’ll come help,” Jeonghan offers, surprising Jihoon. Jeonghan has been instrumental in helping Jihoon find an apartment, but Jihoon didn’t expect him to help with the heavy lifting. That’s why he already got promises from Soonyoung and his beefy friends. 

“Alright,” Jihoon agrees, not willing to pass up on any extra help. “See you then, hyung.”

He hangs up and goes back to the form he’d been filling out. When he took the six month assignment in Los Angeles, he’d paid to put all of his shit in a storage facility in the city rather than moving it back to his parents’ house. But now he has to go through all of the paperwork to get it out and end his agreement. 

“Here’s your coffee,” the barista says as he appears and places Jihoon’s order down.

“Thanks,” Jihoon says. He glances around the café briefly before looking down again. He looks back up when he realizes he knows someone in line. 

It’s not out of the question — he’s not far from Minghao’s apartment and Junhui had talked about his walk the day before, but he still wasn’t expecting to see Junhui waiting in line. He hadn’t stuck around for breakfast the morning before, which Minghao had only shrugged about when Jihoon mentioned it. 

Almost as if he realizes Jihoon is staring, Junhui looks up and around. He makes eye contact with Jihoon before he can look away, and smiles brightly. He waves, and Jihoon waves back. 

Jihoon thinks that’s the end of it, so he’s surprised when Junhui approaches his table a few minutes later. 

“Can I sit with you?” Junhui’s hands are tight around the strap of the messenger bag cutting across his chest. Jihoon thinks that someone so fancy looking shouldn’t also look so nervous, and that makes him say yes even though he’d prefer to be alone to get this form done. 

Junhui puts his bag on an empty chair before sitting and leaning his elbows on the table. 

“One of the guys working — Joshua — I know him pretty well,” Junhui says conspiratorially. “He always gives me free cake.”

“Do I get free cake if you’re sitting with me?” Jihoon asks. 

Junhui grins. “Let’s see.”

Jihoon continues to write, aware of Junhui’s eyes on him as he does it. It’s weird, like Junhui is assessing him in some way, and he feels the back of his neck prickle with the need to say something to make him _stop,_ but then the barista appears. He sets a tray down and unloads Junhui’s mug, the tag of a teabag trailing over the rim, and then sets down two plates. 

Jihoon stares at the tiny cake in front of him for a long moment. It’s pink and delicious looking, and Jihoon is looking forward to eating it, but there’s one thing wrong with it. 

It’s shaped like a heart. 

He peeks across the table and looks at Junhui’s identical cake, and then glances up at Joshua. He’s watching them with an impish smile on his face. 

“Um, hyung,” Junhui says quietly. “This isn’t—”

“Enjoy!” Joshua says cheerily before picking up the empty tray and heading back behind the counter. Jihoon contemplates the weirdness of eating heart-shaped cake with his friend’s boyfriend while Junhui slowly turns red across from him. 

“Sorry,” Junhui eventually stutters out. “He must’ve assumed — we’re not _super_ close — he doesn’t really know—”

“Junhui-ssi.” Jihoon cuts off Junhui’s increasingly panicked rambling. “It’s fine.” He picks up his fork and uses the flat edge to cut the cake in half, and then into quarters. The perfect heart now lies in four, pink clumps on his plate. “See? What heart?”

Junhui lets out a short laugh and then does the same to his own cake. He laughs harder as he shovels a forkful into his mouth. 

Jihoon eats his free cake and thinks it’s no wonder that Minghao likes this guy so much. 

_Wednesday_

Jihoon’s on his way back from the store when Minghao calls him. 

“Hyung, you’re still out right?” 

“Yeah,” Jihoon says. “What’s up?”

“I have a huge favor to ask.”

“I’m crashing on your couch so I definitely owe you,” Jihoon says. “What is it?”

“Can you stop by Jun’s place for me? I was supposed to grab my speaker for class today and totally forgot and I need it in like, the next hour.”

“Got it,” Jihoon says. “Send me the address.”

It’s a cute complex, with a neat courtyard and an open walkway that crisscrosses between the long lines of doors. Jihoon finds the apartment easily, and Junhui answers the door with a confused smile on his face. 

“Um, hi,” Jihoon says. “Did Minghao tell you I was coming by?”

Junhui shakes his head. “No, but it’s okay.” 

He lets Jihoon in and offers him a pair of slippers, stepping up out of the way as Jihoon swaps out his street shoes. Junhui’s not dressed as fancy as he’s been the past two days, trading pressed slacks and sweaters for joggers and a light, hooded sweatshirt.

“Just be careful,” Junhui says as Jihoon steps up into the apartment. “Don’t step on my friend.”

Jihoon casts a wary look around, wondering who might be lying on the floor, and startles when something comes around the kitchen island. 

“Oh!” He shouts a little without meaning to. “Oh...my god.” 

Junhui grins and squats down, blocking off the entryway so that when the turtle gets over to him, he can turn it around and send it back the way it came. 

“It’s so fast,” Jihoon says, watching it truck along. 

“She likes to run,” Junhui replies. 

“What’s her name?” Jihoon asks, squatting down to watch the turtle better. 

“Jiéníguī,” Juhui says. “Kkobugi in Korean.”

“Ah. That’s—” _Nerdy._ “Cute.” 

Junhui shoots him a look like he knows what Jihoon was about to say, and Jihoon grins in response.

“So, Minghao sent you?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon says, tearing his gaze away from Junhui and looking at the turtle again. “He asked me to pick up his speaker.”

“It’s on the counter,” Junhui says. Jihoon makes his way over and grabs it. He turns back around to thank Junhui and get going, but stops short at what Junhui’s doing. 

He’s flat on his stomach, wiggling back and forth a little as the turtle makes a beeline for him. He laughs in delight as the turtle butts into his shoulder, and then moves so he’s sitting and picks the turtle up. He coos at her as her little legs work to get free, but he stops abruptly when he realizes Jihoon is watching him. 

“Did you find it?” Junhui asks, his cheeks pinking a little.

Jihoon nods. “Yeah. I’ll — I’ll just get going now.”

“Okay,” Junhui replies. 

“Okay.”

Junhui stays seated on the floor and watches as Jihoon walks over to put his shoes back on. Jihoon really thinks he’s not going to say anything else and reaches for the door.

“Bye,” he says at the same time that Junhui says, “Wait—”

Jihoon looks up and Junhui is standing and holding the turtle out. 

“Did you want to pet her?” 

Jihoon hesitates, looking at the pointy looking mouth. 

“She doesn’t bite, but even if she did, it wouldn’t hurt,” Junhui reassures him. 

Jihoon stretches out one tentative finger and strokes it across the turtle’s rough head. He smiles to himself as she stretches her neck out further rather than retreating into her shell, and when he looks up, Junhui is smiling too. 

“Bye Jiéníguī-ssi,” Jihoon says. “Bye Junhui-ssi.”

“Bye, Jihoon-ssi,” Junhui says. He takes one of Jiéníguī’s feet and waves it gently. “See you later.”

Jihoon smiles again and then turns around to finally leave, not wanting Minghao to wait any longer. Junhui is such a weirdo, but Jihoon kind of loves it. 

_Thursday_

“Do you want to get dinner with Jun and I tonight?”

Jihoon looks up from his laptop and blinks at Minghao. He doesn’t think he looked _that_ pathetic. Plus, he already did something today. He had lunch with Hansol and Chan and then took a nap. He was already social and then had to recover from it. Jihoon would’ve thought that Minghao would want his date night with Junhui, after having to share his space with Jihoon all week and not seeming to have any time to see his boyfriend. But Minghao looks expectant, so Jihoon nods. 

They meet Junhui at the restaurant, and he looks happy to see them. He doesn’t seem annoyed that Jihoon is crashing what could be a date night, but even after just a few days of knowing Junhui it’s apparent that Junhui isn’t the type to get annoyed easily. 

The hostess shows them to a booth and Minghao sits on one side, and Jihoon steps back to let Junhui slide in next to him. But Junhui slides into the open side of the booth, and then Jihoon is being stared at by two confused faces. 

“Are you gonna sit, hyung?” Minghao asks. He looks pointedly at the seat next to Junhui, and Jihoon sits quickly, feeling weird about it. He shoots Junhui a look out of the corner of his eye, looking away quickly when he realizes Junhui is looking at him too. Minghao sets both elbows on the table and rests his chin on his folded hands as he looks over the menu, clearly reveling in all the extra space he has. Jihoon clears his throat and looks at his own menu. 

As they make their decisions, Junhui starts to tell a few stories about work, mostly revolving around a guy named Wonwoo and how he always steals snacks out of Junhui’s bag and desk. 

“Why do you bring so many though?” Minghao asks, after listening for a while. “You bring extra because you know he’s going to steal them.”

“Well, still,” Junhui says. 

The waiter comes back then, and Jihoon orders his usual double order of jjajangmyun and spicy ramyun, and then listens in horror as Junhui orders an already spicy noodle dish and asks for extra spice. He tries to hide his wide eyes, but Minghao catches it. He raises his eyebrows and grimaces a little. 

“I know.” 

Junhui just smiles angelically. 

Minghao and Junhui talk a little bit more about work stories, while Jihoon listens quietly. He worked pretty independently in Los Angeles and won’t start his new job until next week, so he doesn’t really have anything to contribute. When their food arrives, it’s Junhui’s turn to look semi-horrified as he watches Jihoon mix his two noodle orders together. 

“I hate both of you,” Minghao says over his own plate of perfectly normal food. Junhui and Jihoon exchange a sheepish grin and shrug before beginning to eat. 

At the end of the meal, Minghao tries to grab the bill. 

“Yeah, right,” Junhui says, going for it instead, but Jihoon already has it in his hand. Junhui looks like he wants to grab it and is just stopping himself. 

“I invited you guys,” Minghao says, drawing their attention back across the table. “I’m paying.”

“I’m older,” Junhui and Jihoon respond at the same time. They turn to stare at each other and Jihoon squints. His later birthday will be the disadvantage here, which is proven true when Junhui says, “My birthday’s in June.” He narrows his eyes when Jihoon stays silent. 

“When is your birthday, Jihoon-ssi?” Junhui asks, fluttering his eyelashes at Jihoon expectantly. Jihoon’s voice gets stuck in his throat.

“It’s in November,” Minghao answers. Junhui crows happily and snatches the bill from Jihoon’s hand, sliding out of the booth and scurrying away to pay before Jihoon can stop him. 

“So,” Minghao says once Junhui is gone. “What do you think of Jun?”

“Um.” A whole slew of compliments comes to the tip of Jihoon’s tongue, but he thinks it’d be weird to say most of them. _He has pretty eyes. His laugh makes me smile._ The last thought — _Why was I gone when he came into our lives?_ — makes him feel like a piece of shit friend. Minghao is clearly happy with Junhui, and Jihoon needs to stop it. He’s not the type of person to pine after his friend’s significant other. 

“He’s really nice,” Jihoon finally says. “I’m happy for you.”

Minghao frowns. “What do you—”

“Ice cream?” Junhui asks, reappearing next to the table. “My treat.”

“Um, no,” Jihoon says, standing and grabbing his jacket. “ _My_ treat.”

“Jesus,” Minghao mutters behind them.

_Friday_

“So.” Jihoon catches the baseball that Seungkwan throws to him, takes it out of his glove, and inspects it. “How are things going?”

“With what?” Seungkwan replies as he reaches up to catch Jihoon’s return throw. “School is fine, work is fine, my sister got a puppy and I’m jealous.”

“With Seokmin,” Jihoon clarifies. _Thwack._ The ball hits his glove. 

“Fine,” Seungkwan says. Jihoon peers at him under the brim of his hat. Seungkwan doesn’t look like it’s fine. He throws again. 

“Any progress?” _Thwack._ Seungkwan catches it. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” _Thwack._ Jihoon’s hand stings a little from that catch. He narrows his eyes at Seungkwan. 

“Seungkwan-ah. I was gone for _six months._ I thought you were gonna do something about it.” _Thwack._

“Nothing to do,” Seungkwan replies. He stares hard at the ball in his hand. “It’s fine.”

“I doubt that,” Jihoon replies. “You gonna throw that?”

Seungkwan makes a face at him and throws it, but instead of finding its home in Jihoon’s glove like every other throw, it sails over his head. Jihoon gives Seungkwan a disbelieving look, but Seungkwan’s only response is a shrug. Jihoon rolls his eyes before turning to trot after it. It’s rolled a good way, almost to some of the walkways winding through the park, and by the time Jihoon gets to it, someone has picked it up. 

“Thanks,” Jihoon says as the stranger holds it out, and then double takes in surprise. “Oh! Hi.”

“Hi,” Junhui replies. He’s dressed up again, like he has somewhere important to be, with a tan coat layered over dark turtleneck sweater and tailored pants. Even his shoes are nice looking boots that have somehow managed to stay clean despite the muddiness that’s accompanied the beginning of spring. Jihoon looks down at his beat-up sneakers and steps back a little, not wanting to accidentally dirty Junhui’s outfit. 

The guilt hits him again as he looks up at Junhui. There he goes again, checking out his friend’s boyfriend. He didn’t realize he was this much of an asshole. 

“Where are you headed, Junhui-ssi?”

“I’m just heading to a meeting,” Junhui replies. “Boring for a Friday, but it’s the most exciting thing happening to me today.”

Jihoon frowns internally. Friday is a good date night. Why aren’t Minghao and Junhui going out?

“Do you play?” Junhui asks, eyeing Jihoon’s glove. 

“We’re just playing catch,” Jihoon says. He glances back toward Seungkwan, who is texting and not paying attention to them. He’s probably bitching to Hansol and Chan about how nosy and wrong Jihoon is, but Jihoon knows for a fact that they agree with him. 

“I won’t keep you then,” Junhui says.

“See you later, Junhui-ssi,” Jihoon says. 

“We’re probably going to be seeing each other a lot,” Junhui says. “And we’re the same age. Can we speak comfortably?”

Jihoon nods, feeling pleased he’d made a new friend so quickly. “Yeah, of course! See you later...Junhui.”

“See you later, Jihoon.” Junhui smiles and heads off down the path with a wave, and Jihoon is stuck there watching him for a second, the slightly too cool breeze making him shiver. 

_Saturday_

Most of Saturday is spent moving Jihoon’s shit from his storage unit to his new apartment. It becomes clear why Jeonghan was ready to help when Jihoon sees how well he really knows the guy with the truck. Seungcheol is very helpful and knows a lot of shortcuts through town, and despite the very distracting person that Jeonghan is, manages not to get too sidetracked by him. 

Jihoon is mostly in charge of directing the traffic and telling people where to put boxes, as well as providing fuel for the people who are helping him but won’t accept his money. He does almost die when one of Soonyoung’s friends almost drops his eight hundred thousand won keyboard, and Jeonghan has to drag him into another room and distract him with inane questions about curtain rods to get him to calm down. 

Once his friends leave and Jihoon is all alone, he starts to clean. His first order of business is to sweep and mop all the floors, and then he has to figure out where he’s going to store the massive pile of toilet paper that was gifted to him throughout the day. 

The doorbell rings around seven. Jihoon frowns, wondering if someone forgot something. He’s not expecting Junhui to be standing on the other side of the door. 

“Hi!” Junhui says brightly. He has his hands behind his back. “Happy moving day!” 

“Thanks,” Jihoon says. He lets Junhui in and hears the rusting of cellophane. He tries to peek at what Junhui is hiding, but Junhui sees him looking and shuffles in a way that keeps his back to the wall. 

“I don’t have any extra slippers yet,” Jihoon says apologetically. “But I just cleaned the floors.” 

“It’s fine,” Junhui says. “I won’t be here long, I don’t want to intrude.”

He looks around as if he’s looking for someone, and then turns a frown on Jihoon. “Minghao’s not here?” 

“Nah,” Jihoon says, frowning too. “He had classes all day, and one of his groups had a performance tonight.” Jihoon felt guilty that he missed it, and he’s surprised that Junhui isn’t there with Minghao. 

“Oh.” Junhui’s frown smooths out as he looks at Jihoon again. “I would’ve helped if I’d known today was moving day. I just found out a few hours ago.”

“Junhui, it’s fine,” Jihoon says. He steps up into the apartment. “Are you coming in?” 

“Look away,” Junhui says. “I have to put this down to unzip my boots but I don’t want you to see it yet.” 

“Are you serious?” Jihoon asks with a laugh. Junhui grins and doesn’t budge an inch until Jihoon turns around, shaking his head with a laugh. He heads for the kettle and then searches through the box of food Minghao had pressed on him this morning, looking for tea. He hears the crinkle of whatever it is being placed on the counter, but he waits until Junhui says, “Okay, you can look.”

There’s a basket sitting on his island, stuffed with an assortment of seemingly random things. There’s a small loaf of bread, a container of sea salt, a scented candle, and a bottle of red wine all tucked into the basket. Nestled in the middle of all of it is a small plant, which Jihoon immediately thinks he might accidentally kill. 

“Let me explain,” Junhui says as he watches Jihoon inspect everything. “I was trying to figure out which was the best thing to bring, and I couldn’t settle, so I did a little bit of everything?” Jihoon nods as Junhui continues talking. “These are all things that you give to someone back home: bread so you won’t go hungry, wine so your life is sweet, salt so that you always have spice in your life, and a candle so you always have light in your life.” He touches the plant nervously. “Uh. The plant was Joshua’s suggestion. He grew up in America and I guess that’s a thing they do? It seemed like a good idea, so I did it.” 

“Wow,” Jihoon says once Junhui stops talking. He’d barely taken a breath through the whole explanation. Junhui laughs and it sounds kind of nervous. He looks around the kitchen and sees the stack of toilet paper that Jihoon had shoved against the wall for lack of a better place to put it right now. His face falls. 

“I forgot about that,” he says. He reaches for the basket. “Let me take this back. I’ll do that instead.”

“No,” Jihoon says. He also grabs the basket, his hands overlapping Junhui’s. “I love this.” 

Junhui freezes, his hands trapped under Jihoon’s. 

“Thank you,” Jihoon says. He loosens his grip so Junhui can get his hands away, and then tugs the basket closer to himself and to safety. “Do you want some tea?”

Junhui opens his mouth and closes it a few times before finally saying, “I...actually should go.”

“Oh.” Jihoon nods. That makes sense. “Sure.”

Junhui’s gone as quick as he arrived, leaving Jihoon alone in his new apartment with a gnawing sort of guilt. 

_Sunday_

Jihoon knocks on Minghao’s door. He could just use the code that Minghao shared with him, but since he’s not technically staying there anymore, it doesn’t feel right. 

Minghao answers the door looking happy, despite the early hour. It’s quite the opposite of how he’s looked this past week, which was stressed and anxious. Jihoon thought it must’ve been something to do with work and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. He’s glad that Minghao seems to be better.

“Hey,” Jihoon says. 

“Your charger?” Minghao asks. Jihoon nods and follows Minghao into the apartment gratefully. 

“We’re just about to eat breakfast if you want to stay,” Minghao says, padding across the room and retrieving Jihoon’s charger from next to the couch. Jihoon feels another pang of guilt as he thinks about Junhui, and doesn’t know if he can stand to sit through a meal with them. He needs to get his shit together, and he needs a little bit of space, he thinks. 

“Oh, no, that’s—”

“Is that your friend?” An unfamiliar voice travels from the kitchen, and then another unfairly tall guy steps around the corner. He has a dish towel slung over one shoulder and a spatula in one hand, and Jihoon stares in shock. _He’s_ allowed to touch things in Minghao’s kitchen. Who the fuck is this guy? 

“Jihoon, Mingyu,” Minghao gestures between the two of them. “Mingyu, Jihoon.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mingyu says, coming closer to where Jihoon still hasn’t removed his shoes. 

“Who are you?” Jihoon asks abruptly. 

Mingyu shoots Minghao a confused look and drops his hand. “Uh, Kim Mingyu? Minghao’s boyfriend? Hao, you said he knew I was coming?”

“Excuse me?” Jihoon’s ears are ringing and he doesn’t think he heard that correctly. “Minghao’s _what?”_

Minghao has two boyfriends and Jihoon has been single for almost two years. How is that fucking fair? 

“Hyung, I told you I wanted to introduce you to him?” Minghao walks over and pokes the charger into Jihoon’s chest. Jihoon grabs it while still staring at Mingyu. “Why are you being so weird?”

“But— I thought—” Jihoon snaps his mouth shut before looking at Minghao and trying again. “How many boyfriends do you have?”

 _“What?”_ Minghao asks. Mingyu crosses his arms and leans against the wall. 

“Something you want to tell me?” Mingyu asks, delight clear in his voice. 

“No,” Minghao says immediately. “I have one boyfriend. Hyung. Why would you ask me that?”

“Then what about Junhui?” Jihoon asks. 

“Wen Junhui?” Minghao blinks, scoffs, and then laughs. “Me? And Jun?”

“I thought so?” Jihoon huffs in frustration. “Stop _laughing._ You said you wanted to introduce me to your boyfriend and he showed up and seemed comfortable here and I just...assumed, I guess?” 

“Well, you assumed wrong,” Minghao says through his laughter. “Is this why you were so awkward at dinner?”

Jihoon scowls. “Shut the fuck up.” 

“Oh my god.” Minghao holds a hand over his stomach, like the muscles hurt from laughing so hard. “You idiots.”

“I’ve felt so guilty,” Jihoon hisses. “This isn’t funny. I felt like shit because I thought your boyfriend was cute. _Minghao.”_

“I am cute, though,” Mingyu says. 

“Just go,” Minghao says, waving Jihoon away. Jihoon’s stomachs rolls unpleasantly. It turns out he hadn’t actually been a bad friend, but maybe the fact that he _could’ve_ been is enough to make Minghao mad. Minghao looks at him and sighs. “I’m not mad. But don’t you think you should go talk to Jun?”

“Right now?” Jihoon asks, and then realizes — fuck. Yes. He has to talk to Junhui _right now._ “Right. Yeah. I’m going.”

“Are all of your friends like that?” He hears Mingyu ask as he hurries through the door. 

“Unfortunately, yes,” Minghao answers. 

Jihoon isn’t a slow walker, but the speed with which he reaches Junhui’s apartment is still surprising. He’s knocking on the door and waiting for a response before he realizes he doesn’t really know what he wants to say. 

“Hi, again,” Junhui says when he answers the door. He looks like he’s getting ready to go out for the day, and Jihoon is glad he caught him. Now he just has to figure out what to say.

“You’re not dating Minghao,” he blurts, and, well. That sure is something. 

Junhui stares at him before giving him an unsure smile. “No, I’m not.” He shifts and grips the door tighter. “I know you guys are dating and if I made you uncomfortable or got in the way at all—”

“What? No. Me and— That’s not it,” Jihoon interrupts. He hates interrupting people and he hates being interrupted, but it’s necessary right now. “I’m not dating Minghao either.”

Junhui looks up from the floor and looks at Jihoon properly for the first time. “What?”

“I’m not dating Minghao,” Jihoon repeats. “But I thought you were. He said he was going to introduce me to his boyfriend, and then you showed up at the apartment last week and I just assumed you were the boyfriend.”

Junhui gapes. “He told me that his boyfriend was coming into town soon and so when I met you and you’d just arrived…”

“Holy shit,” Jihoon laughs. “We’re both so dumb.”

“Well, Minghao could’ve given us a name, at least.” Junhui starts laughing too. “Wait. Who is this boyfriend then?”

“His name is Mingyu,” Jihoon says. “He’s at the apartment right now.”

Junhui shakes his head and smiles at Jihoon. They’re still standing in the doorway, Junhui holding the door open between them, and Jihoon can smile at Junhui all he wants now without feeling guilty. 

“Are you busy right now?” Jihoon asks. “Do you want to go for a walk, or something?”

 _Super romantic, Jihoon._ But they’ve already embarrassed themselves plenty in front of each other, so maybe it doesn’t matter. 

Junhui smiles. “Yes! I was going to the farmers’ market, if that sounds okay?”

Jihoon stops himself from saying something disgustingly romantic, and then realizes he doesn’t want to keep it in. 

“I don’t care where we go,” Jihoon says. “As long as it's with you.”

“Oh.” Junhui’s cheeks flush faster than Jihoon has ever seen before. He ducks his head and Jihoon grins, pleased at the reaction. 

“Should we go?” 

They head toward the market in an anticipatory silence. Junhui walks with his hands clasped behind his back for a few paces before letting them drop. When the backs of their hands brush, he smiles at Jihoon and the early spring sunshine lights him up in a way that Jihoon knows he’s going to try and capture in a song.

Jihoon reaches out and takes Junhui’s hand so that they can start this thing off properly, at last.

**Author's Note:**

> Jiéníguī and Kkobugi are the Mandarin and Korean names for Squirtle, respectively 🐢
> 
> For the housewarming gifts that Jihoon receives: [this link](https://oureverydaylife.com/traditional-chinese-housewarming-gifts-12082014.html) talks about typical gifts in China and [this link](https://thesoulofseoul.net/2016/01/08/toilet-paper-the-perfect-gift-in-korea/) explains the gifting of toilet paper in Korea.


End file.
